Anyone who buys groceries and stands in a check out line has to see the cover of EW...tlak about muppet domination! And now with the possibility of Muppets on SNL and more talk shows, at the CMA, etc...thank you disney marketing machine!

The only problem that the article in that issue is that they too have given in to the false rumors of Frank Oz, et al. hating the script, Steve Whitmire wanting his name removed from the credits, etc. I thought EW was above that!

I loved the article too...sad to hear that some muppet people were upset about the movie other than fart shoes (Come on their have been many worse things than this over the years) I'm excited about this.

Actually if you read the EW article closely, while it does raise the issue of Muppet veterans having some issues, this article does a better job of detailing what parts of the original drafts were sore points AND THAT THEY LATER GOT DELETED OR ALTERED.

I like that they cleared up the Kermit mansion thing. Kermit living in a big expensive looking palace would be out of place. Kermit living in a run down "mansion" that he is doing his own repairs on fits just fine. After all, he did live their with Piggy. Kermit may like the swamp, but you can bet the pig demanded a mansion.

As far as early drafts having Kermit being mean to people....Kermit was known to be kind of a jerk during the Henson years. Not all the time, and not for the sake of being one, but he wasn't always smiles and good times. That was part of what made him human. He lost his temper. He blew up at people. He fired friends and loved ones. He was the force that drove the muppets apart in MTM, though he was also the force that brought them back together. He use to be the most human frog there is and I wish they would bring that back again.

Part of the reason I enjoyed AVMMC so much is that Kermit acted like Kermit in that one. Optimistic in parts, angry in others, finding it hopeless only to remeber he has to be strong for his friends and getting back out there. THAT is Kermit, and it sounds like that Kermit will be in this movie. ANd as far as Steve wanting to remove his name from this movie....if he didn't want to remove it from Kermit Swamp Years, Muppets from SPace, or Muppets Wizard of Oz, why the heck did he want it removed from The Muppets? Whoopie cushions? SOme one really needs to get a quote from Steve to clear this up.

Those bits about those "some Muppet people" being upset were lies and nothing more!

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Do we have any more evidence that they're lies than we do that they're true? Bill Barretta seems to imply that there's a nugget of truth, while at the same time suggesting that it's not as big a deal as it seems. Also, if you've seen the interviews with Kermit, especially in Canada, Steve seems to be suggesting that he does in fact have some issues with elements of the film. He goes out of his way to point out that Kermit is just an "actor" in this film, and it doesn't portray the way he really is. He avoids saying good things about making the film (the best part is lunch (yes, that's also meant to be funny)), and emphasizes that the reason for making this movie is so that more Muppet stuff will get made. If he said the same things to me in conversation, I'd suspect he's hiding something.

But...

I agree with you that we shouldn't pay much attention to that. There aren't enough details to know the truth, and speculating is not going to help anything. I only said this as a reminder that calling this unpleasant statement a lie without solid evidence to back it up is no better than calling it true without solid evidence to back it up. It's better to just leave it alone (yes, I see the irony in my saying that).

Part of the reason I enjoyed AVMMC so much is that Kermit acted like Kermit in that one. Optimistic in parts, angry in others, finding it hopeless only to remeber he has to be strong for his friends and getting back out there. THAT is Kermit, and it sounds like that Kermit will be in this movie. ANd as far as Steve wanting to remove his name from this movie....if he didn't want to remove it from Kermit Swamp Years, Muppets from SPace, or Muppets Wizard of Oz, why the heck did he want it removed from The Muppets? Whoopie cushions? SOme one really needs to get a quote from Steve to clear this up.

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Those were far lower in quality than this film will be... Oz was an outright embarrassment, and I'd tend to think EVERYONE would want to remove their name from that. I mean, even if Fozzie actually DID fart for a long, loud 2 minutes, it still wouldn't be half as offensive as the DVD exclusive, completely unnecissary sequence where Dorothy gets turned into Kelly Osborne for no reason whatsoever... or... or basically 90% of the movie. And remember, they're referred to as puppets in an earlier sequence. Way to blow the imagination aspects, guys. I just can't stress how unappealing that film was on almost every level. Even visually. I'm sure if they at least cast an actress to play Dorothy that could ACT, the film would have been less awkward.

If anything, I'd say the Muppeteers were initially hesitant that some outside celeb was writing the script... and, this is the reason you can't randomly submit a script to the same TV show you want to get hired onto, they were able to pick apart the character nuances that were missing from the script... but as dw said...

parts of the original drafts were sore points AND THAT THEY LATER GOT DELETED OR ALTERED.

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To think the script wouldn't have to go through the puppeteers or Jim Lewis or anyone at Disney is crazy. That's why I'm totally sure Frank got the rough draft of the script. I would say if there's still any uncertainty, it's just that the Muppeteers are waiting for the fans to react.

And let's face it. If we can accept Kermit being Abraham Smollet, getting hit by a car and becoming an ad exec, losing it with a little girl who insists Cookie Monster is a letter of the alphabet, that if he wasn't born Scooter would cage dance ("My Uncle owns the... heh... my Uncle sold it, didn't he? Got anything for me to do, Ms. Bitterman?"), and above all being Fozzie's brother of a half breed Brog father... all for the sake of the plot or the comedy, we can accept him having a mansion for one movie. Right guys?

What I'm coming off of here IS very much Kermit. The other Muppets moved on to bigger and better things (in most cases), but he stays behind and enjoys his success as Kermit. That's no different from them splitting up in MTM for me.

As far as early drafts having Kermit being mean to people....Kermit was known to be kind of a jerk during the Henson years. Not all the time, and not for the sake of being one, but he wasn't always smiles and good times. That was part of what made him human. He lost his temper. He blew up at people. He fired friends and loved ones. He was the force that drove the muppets apart in MTM, though he was also the force that brought them back together. He use to be the most human frog there is and I wish they would bring that back again.

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I am SOOO glad you brought that up! I couldn't agree with you more. Kermit was definitely not nice all the time and there are several examples during the Muppet show years where Kermit was a jerk at times, especially to others he was really close too (Piggy, Fozzie and Gonzo for the most part). That was ok though because it was balanced with his kindness and compassion. I totally agree with you that they need to bring back that balance again...Kermit has been very "weak" in character during the many recent projects, and IAVMMCM was the one time in recent years where we really saw that balance again and look at the great reaction the special got! Really hoping that we get the real Kermit back in this new movie, the one that's not "nice to everyone".